TOKYO -- More than 10% of small restaurants and bars near Tokyo's busy Shinjuku Station say they will not close at 8 p.m. as requested by authorities, arguing that such a move would sound the death knell for their businesses.
Though just over half of the 100 businesses surveyed by Nikkei said they would abide by the new restriction under the state of emergency declared on Thursday. Twelve refused to do so, while another 15 will close entirely and 20 had not yet decided how to respond. Tokyo authorities had previously asked restaurants to close at 10 p.m. in response to a renewed rise in coronavirus cases.
